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CNN This Morning
Air Quality Alerts from Midwest to East Coast; Dueling Rallies in New Hampshire; Supreme Court Rejects Right Wing Legal Theory. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired June 28, 2023 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:31:47]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING.
More than 80 million people from the Midwest to the East Coast are under air quality alerts this morning, as smoke from burning Canadian wildfires once again sweeps south. Chicago is currently the third most polluted city in the world. Here's a live look at the windy city, along with Detroit and Milwaukee. Air quality alerts have been issued for seven states, including Illinois, Michigan and Maryland, as well as partial parts of states, including Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Let's go our meteorologist Jennifer Grey.
It was so surreal to experience here in New York City a few weeks ago, and people are feeling it across the country again.
JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, they really are. And the smoke is really going to dip pretty far down to the south. Here's a live look at Pittsburgh where they are under very unhealthy air quality. You can see all the red and purple dots. These indicate unhealthy to very unhealthy. At one point yesterday Chicago did have the worst air quality in the world.
So, this is all going to sink down to the south. We have poor air quality alerts in all of the states, as you just mentioned. You can see those yellows and oranges. So, the smoke is really going to be bad for one more day and then start to dissipate. So, that's the good news.
But look how far south it's sinking, all the way down into portions of the mid-south, the southeast, could have some hazy skies but definitely improving by the time we get to tomorrow. We also have excessive heat warnings, heat advisories in effect with a dangerous heat across portions of the south where the feels like temperature today could be anywhere between 110 and 115 for a lot of areas across the deep south. We are going to stay in the triple digits for portions of Texas, Louisiana, on into the southeast, as that heat expands, Poppy.
HARLOW: Jennifer Grey, thank you for walking us through it. GRAY: Thanks.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this morning, new video shows the moment police in France shot and killed a 17-year-old during a traffic stop. But first, we want to warn you that you might find this next video disturbing. As you watch, you can see an officer pointing his gun through the window before a gunshot is heard. Then the car takes off and crashes. The officer, accused of shooting the teen, has been detained on suspicion of culpable homicide. Two passengers were in the car at the time of the shooting. One fled while the other was arrested and later released.
Now, the shooting has triggered violent protests, cars and trash cans set on fire, bus stops destroyed. Demonstrators also set off fireworks near the police station. Riot police used tear gas to break up protesters and about 31 people have been arrested.
Well, Trump and DeSantis, they have held dueling events in New Hampshire. It didn't take long for the jabs.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He's holding an event right now to compete with us. There's only one problem, nobody showed up.
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MATTINGLY: Just a little preview of what's to come as the Republican field takes shape.
HARLOW: And first, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy questioned whether Trump was a, quote, strong enough candidate, then he backtracked quickly. Why the sudden about face.
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[06:38:49]
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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL) AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I tell you I'm going to do something, I'm not just saying that for an election.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He's holding an event right now to compete with us. There's only one problem, nobody showed up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump trading jabs at each other during dueling rallies in New Hampshire yesterday. The two 2024 candidates crisscrossed the early voting state, targeting each other as they talked to voters.
Our Jessica Dean is here at the table with us.
Good morning.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
HARLOW: So -
MATTINGLY: There were people at DeSantis' event.
HARLOW: I know.
DEAN: I was going to say it, but Phil's here with the fact check right off the top.
MATTINGLY: So, like I would just say that - like, this is literally on the screen.
HARLOW: Would you just let - would you just let the reporter report on it?
DEAN: He's having a hard time letting go of the reporting. He's a reporter at heart.
HARLOW: Of D.C. Kidding.
Jess.
DEAN: Yes. Well, people were at Ron DeSantis' stop in Hollis, as Phil just noted.
HARLOW: Yes.
DEAN: They were in the state of New Hampshire. Of course, to remind everyone, a key early state with its own personality.
Phil, you talked about this yesterday morning, I heard you say, you really have to do retail politics in New Hampshire. They really expect you to talk to them. They really expect you to interact with the voters.
And so, you know, Ron DeSantis was there going up against this kind of collective wisdom that he's not the best retail politician. And that - and so he's now taking -- for the first time we are seeing him take questions from voters, talk about that, interact with them from the stage.
[06:40:06]
He's been talking to them in rope lines, but take the questions from the stage.
And then, of course, you have former President Donald Trump, who's also in the state. This was the first time they were kind of like circling each other in this tiny state of New Hampshire. DeSantis going more indirectly at Trump, saying he wants to break the swamp, not drain the swamp, because Trump had a chance to drain it and didn't. He says you have to break it.
Here's what former --
HARLOW: Break versus drain.
DEAN: Right.
Let's hear what the former president said.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Somebody said, how come you only attack him? I said, because he's in second place. Well, why don't you attack others/ Because they're not in second place. But soon I don't think he'll be in second place, so I'll be attacking somebody else.
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DEAN: So, this is - this is what we - this is kind of what we've been seeing develop. Trump and his campaign going directly at DeSantis, as we just saw right there. DeSantis is taking a little bit of a different approach. He will go after him, but only when asked directly about it.
From the stump, he doesn't ever really name him in a stump speech. He'll say things like, I want to break the swamp, not drain it, because others have gone before me, that sort of thing. But when voters or the media will ask him directly about Trump, that's when he'll really take him on. And I expect to kind of see that expand until maybe we see these two on a debate stage in a few months? TBD.
MATTINGLY: And how do you break a swamp?
DEAN: That's a great question, Phil.
MATTINGLY: Good, because I wanted to make sure I wasn't like missing some - some -
DEAN: No, no, it's - it's just a different verb. Yes.
MATTINGLY: Shelby, to that point, are they going to be on a debate stage together?
SHELBY TALCOTT, POLITICS REPORTER, "SEMAFOR": That's a good question. I don't think Trump or some -- at least some members of his team see any incentive for him to be on a debate stage. So, to be determined. But I would not be surprised if Trump bows out of the stage. I think his big argument is, why would I give these guys a chance to go directly at me when I'm so far ahead?
MATTINGLY: Which isn't a bad argument when you're plus 32 in every single poll.
TALCOTT: Yes. Correct. Yes.
HARLOW: Plus 32.
To that point, a lot of Trump supporters up in arms over what House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said about is Trump strong enough or the strongest to win.
Let's play it.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could he win an election and can he get -
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Can he win that election? Yes, he can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think he can?
MCCARTHY: The question is, is he the strongest to win the election? I don't know that answer. But can somebody - can anybody beat Biden? Yes, anybody can beat Biden. Can Biden beat other people? Yes, Biden can beat them. It's on any given day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: You served in Congress with McCarthy.
MAX ROSE (D), FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN: Sure.
HARLOW: What -
MATTINGLY: Did you start your stop watch when you saw that sound? How long is this going to take?
ROSE: Sometimes politicians make the mistake of being honest. And, you know, we'll -- in so many ways this Trumpian base is so fervent and passionate that the second that you criticize him as a Republican, the backlash can actually be extraordinary. And what I think some of these Republican officials fail to acknowledge, though, is that actually is not the majority of even the Republican primary base. Maybe it's a third. But in politics, passion is often stronger than numbers. And I have no doubt that Kevin McCarthy's office, both his government office, as well as his political office, is getting e-mails, text messages, phone calls, letters from both people they know and people they never heard of, and that's why he backtracked so incredibly quickly.
TALCOTT: And McCarthy -- Trump actually had McCarthy's article on his desk on the way -- on the plane home, which I thought was notable.
MATTINGLY: Well, that is a backtrack on that one.
TALCOTT: I believe it was the backtracking one.
HARLOW: Oh, interesting.
DEAN: It is interesting because the whole field is counting on some cover, right, from people like Kevin McCarthy, the 2024 field, to say, look, everyone supports Trump. This would be like a Republican talking point. Everyone supports Trump. However, who can win in a general election? That's what Ron DeSantis, that's the case he's certainly making and these other contenders want to make as well. So, you know, it was interesting to see him say that. And then, of course, backtrack.
MATTINGLY: Can I ask, what are we not seeing? Shelby is always good at answering this question from - behind the -
DEAN: We'll see if I can do it.
MATTINGLY: Behind the - Poppy's already dimed me out. So, like, the bar is very low at this point in time.
HARLOW: You're surrounded.
MATTINGLY: But when you're on the trail, you know, there are narratives that set.
DEAN: Yes.
MATTINGLY: There are kind of top line things that we're always talking about right now as we wait for this to kind of fully kick into high gear. What are you kind of observing that like stands out to you that maybe we're missing right now?
DEAN: I think the thing that has stood out to me the most is that the voters that I've watched are truly interested in learning about the other candidates. They're not dead set on Trump.
Now, look, there is a part of that primary electorate that is never going to move, right. Those always Trump people are immovable. However, I think even people who, perhaps, feel like they think they want to support Trump are out there and very curious about these other candidates. There is Trump fatigue out there. And it's just, can they find someone that they believe they can - that can win?
[06:45:01]
MATTINGLY: Interesting.
HARLOW: They want a winner.
DEAN: Uh-huh, they want a winner.
HARLOW: Thank you, guys, very much. Jess, Shelby, Max Rose, stay close.
The Supreme Court rejecting a theory that would have radically reshaped American elections. We'll tell you what it means for you and your vote ahead.
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Girl, you're the one I want to want me. And if you want me, girl, you got me.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: It's the real reason Max Rose is here with us today. Singer Jason Derulo will join us on set. His secrets to success and why he says you should sing your name out loud. Poppy Harlow.
HARLOW: Do it, Phil.
DEAN: What?
MATTINGLY: Sing your name now.
HARLOW: I am not signing my name out loud.
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MICHAEL LUTTIG, RETIRED FEDERAL JUDGE: Moore versus Harper is the most significant case for America's democracy since our founding almost 250 years ago.
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HARLOW: Just think about such a well-known Republican former federal judge like Michael Luttig saying that.
[06:50:04]
He is praising the Supreme Court's decision to reject a fringe GOP theory that could have transformed America's elections. Yesterday the justices voted 6-3 to reject the independent state legislature theory. It would have given state lawmakers enormous power over federal elections. Judge Luttig, who advised former Vice President Mike Pence on his actions on January 6th called the ruling a win for democracy. Some of former Trump -- President Trump's allies tried to use this fringe theory to overturn the 2020 election, which, by the way, is now being investigated, that effort. So it all ties together.
Let's bring in our senior Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic, live in Washington, Joey Jackson back at the table.
Joan, this is huge. Explain why this matters for every American who votes.
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: It really does matter because it gets to the core of who will decide whether election rules are fair. In North Carolina the question was, was this redistricting map fair or was it a partisan gerrymander that impinged on voters' rights? We're going to have many cases in 2024, just as we had in 2020, about fairness at the ballot box. And it comes down to who actually will oversee that. And as you said, this case tested whether state legislatures would have complete, independent control, over those rules or whether state court judges interpreting the protections of their own state constitutions could decide - could review those. And what the Supreme Court ruled is that state courts have a duty here. Chief Justice John Roberts pointed to the history and tradition of
judicial review, not just at the federal level, dating all the way back to Marbury versus Madison, but at the state court level, saying federal courts must not abandon their duty to exercise judicial review. When state legislatures act pursuant to their election clause authority, they engage in lawmaking subject to typical constraints on the exercise of state power -- such power.
So, Poppy, this was a really important decision that actually plays right to what our democracy has always practiced. It was that this very extreme theory had been put forward in 2020 and it was a chance that could it actually -- it could actually affect what happened in 2024. But the chief got six votes to stop it.
MATTINGLY: Yes, you know, Joey, Joan makes a great point, like the most extreme was cast aside.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.
MATTINGLY: If you read the fine print of the decision, however, there are some elements in there that even gave some of those celebrating yesterday some pause about what it may mean going forward. What are they?
JACKSON: Yes. So, I'm confident, and here's why I am, Phil. You know -- and I think this is what the judge meant when he talked about democracy. Legislatures, of course, every state has them. And that state legislatures, you're elected by the public. As a result of that, those state legislatures, certainly you want them to make important decisions. But you want them making decisions within the confines of the law.
And what this opinion essentially said was that the state legislature should not have unfettered discretion to do what it wants with respect to the electoral process, and it has to be checked, right, by the state court system. Why should we be in a scenario where we have the state legislature making a decision that cannot otherwise -- it would be immunized, right? It would be immunized from all attack. And so essentially what's going to happen now is that if they overstep, Phil and Poppy, you're going to have the state courts that can now come in and they could otherwise assess that misstep and they can right the wrong. And I think that's a significance.
HARLOW: But, Joan, one of the things that I think is giving some supporters this decision pause is what Roberts wrote in that opinion about federal courts. Rick Hassan, election law expert at UCLA, writes, Moore, the case, has killed off the most extreme version of the independently state legislature theory, but it still gives the Supreme Court and federal courts a license to do mischief. Explain.
BISKUPIC: That's exactly right. That's exactly right, Poppy, and that's good to focus on as we go forward because while the Supreme Court said states can have the power to review, they do not -- state courts, they do not have free reign. And what Professional Hassan and others have suggested is, maybe this might give, frankly, federal courts and the Supreme Court itself free reign. What the opinion said is that state court themselves cannot go beyond
the ordinary bounds of their judicial roles, but the people who will be deciding that will be federal court judges and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court. So, this is all going to end up back in their hands when we have election rule controversies, Poppy.
HARLOW: Yes. It's fascinating. So many people thought that this case would get dismissed because of issues about how the North Carolina Supreme Court changed, but you had people like Judge Luttig fighting for it, Neal Katal (ph) and others saying, look, this has to be decided. And it's so important right now in the special counsel's investigation.
BISKUPIC: So true.
MATTINGLY: Yes. And Joan and Joey have done great coverage.
[06:55:00]
The acute nature of things that we're watching play out in real-time, to your point.
HARLOW: Yes.
MATTINGLY: It's unavoidable at this point.
All right, Joan Biskupic, a busy week for you -- a busy couple weeks for you. Joey Jackson, thanks, guys.
HARLOW: All right, flights, delays and cancellations worsening at New York City area airports after severe storms. The hardest hit destinations straight ahead.
MATTINGLY: Plus, good fortune seems to follow Ryan Seacrest everywhere. His next big hosting gig has everyone's heads spinning.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thousands of flights were canceled across the country.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was bad. We were frustrated because we've been awake for 24 hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will never fly with United again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: United's CEO says the FAA, frankly, failed us
